File Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto (not in the picture) at the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Aug. 28, 2017. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the opioid crisis "a national public health emergency" in the United States.

In an address at the White House, Trump said the growing epidemic spares "no part" of the country, promising his administration will spend "lots of money" to find non-addictive painkiller.

"This epidemic is a national health emergency," he said. "Nobody has seen anything like what is going on now."

"Addressing it will require all of our effort, and it will require us to confront the crisis in all of its real complexity," the president said, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.

Trump said the opioid use has affected more than 2 million Americans nationwide, and the number continues to rise.

"No state has been spared, and no demographic has been untouched." he lamented.

With Trump's declaration, the U.S. federal government will waive some regulations, give states more flexibility in how they use federal funds and expand the use of telemedicine treatment, according to White House aids who briefed reporters on Thursday morning. The emergency will last 90 days but can be repeatedly renewed.

The last time that a national public health emergency of this scope was called in the U.S. was in 2009 in response to the H1N1 influenza virus.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of injury-related death in the country. Opioid use, which has skyrocketed in the United States since the turn of the century, is to blame for much of the increase.